• April 26, 2006

Meredith Corporation posted steady year-over-year gains for the first three months of 2006, according to an earnings teleconference Tuesday morning with Chairman and CEO Bill Kerr. "The stability provided by Meredith's "books, Internet, integrated, and interactive marketing," Kerr said, "have grown faster than traditional advertising, and with comparable or better margins."

The Internet in particular was a favorite theme of Kerr, who concluded: "The Internet has provided a rapidly growing source of advertising revenue at both our business groups. In the first nine months of fiscal '06, Internet advertising revenue grew nearly 80 percent in publishing... and more than doubled in broadcasting." Earlier in the address, Kerr noted: "We were particularly pleased with our local advertising performance and the growth in online advertising on our stations' Web sites."

--Erik Sass